The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 173

Shock Wave (6)

$9.4.

Victoria Corporation had swung between heaven and hell in a single day.

John Peer checked Victoria Corporation’s closing price and let out a long sigh.

“Hoo… Barely defended it.”

JP Morgan’s fund managers also raised their hands in the air, relieved by the fatigue that had built up throughout the day.

“Ha, it was a really tough day.”

“It would have been difficult if the good news hadn’t come out at the end.”

The good news that came out at the end:

It was the news that City Services had been restarted.

“It seems Mr. Jung succeeded in reviving City Services.”

John Peer highly valued the abilities of Victoria Corporation’s elite developers, including Jung Hyun-woo. However, he considered the developers in the New York branch to be a smaller, less critical group.

‘As the company grows, major developers can’t handle all the work alone.’

Accidents always start from a lack of skilled personnel or carelessness due to excessive fatigue and stress.

“Everyone, finish up. I’ll talk to Mr. Jung.”

“Understood.”

While JP Morgan’s fund managers were finishing up, John Peer called Jung Hyun-woo.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The signal rang several times, but there was no answer.

‘Is he busy?’

In fact, it was understandable that he would be busy.

Victoria Corporation was facing an unprecedented crisis.

Soon, a woman with a clear voice answered the phone.

“Victoria Corporation.”

“This is John Peer from JP Morgan. I would like to speak with the CEO.”

“Understood.”

After a moment, Jung Hyun-woo’s voice was heard.

“This is Charlie.”

“Mr. Jung, this is John Peer.”

Jung Hyun-woo confirmed it was John Peer and nodded, asking, “What was the closing price?”

“$9.4.”

Considering it had exceeded $15 earlier, it was a low stock price.

However, considering it had fallen to around $7.5 during the day, it was a significant recovery.

“How much funds were used?”

“About 40 million dollars.”

“Then our stake must have increased as well.”

Based on $7.5, 1% of Victoria Corporation’s stake was valued at $150 million.

“Today, Mr. Jung’s stake increased by about 0.3%.”

Jung Hyun-woo smiled with satisfaction.

“Good.”

He thought he might be able to recover some of Victoria Corporation’s stake during this downturn.

‘When the stock price falls, you can increase your stake like this.’

Jung Hyun-woo now seemed to understand why the wealthy always hold a certain amount of cash.

“Mr. Jung, there was a significant amount of short selling today.”

“Which account did the short selling come from?”

“Bank of America.”

Jung Hyun-woo groaned softly.

“Hmm, I see.”

The only two securities companies that held a large amount of Victoria Corporation’s stock were Bank of America and JP Morgan. Therefore, if a large amount of short selling occurred, it could only be one of these two.

‘John Peer is telling me that the short selling was done through Bank of America to secure his alibi.’

John Peer wanted to make it clear that he was an ally of Victoria Corporation based on this call.

“Mr. Jung, today’s rise can be considered temporary. If you don’t resolve the strike issue, it may fall again.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and acknowledged his words.

“I know. I will definitely resolve the strike issue in the AS [American Services] business division.”

Wall Street investors distrusted the risk management capabilities of young managers like Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah. And what fueled this distrust was Robert’s retirement, taking with him a wealth of experience.

They argued that Victoria Corporation was faltering as Sarah and Jung Hyun-woo came to the forefront of the company.

However, this was a reversal of cause and effect. The two came to the forefront because of the problems that had already occurred within Victoria Corporation.

John Peer said with emphasis, “Mr. Jung, this week is very important.”

Today was Wednesday, so there were still Thursday and Friday left. He thought they had to hold the price at around $10 until the weekend.

Jung Hyun-woo accepted his words in a calm voice.

“Mr. Peer, tomorrow morning, there will be a speech related to this matter.”

John Peer tilted his head and asked, “Are you talking about the strike?”

“Not the strike, but the hacking.”

“Ah, you mean the press briefing about the suspension of City Services.”

Jung Hyun-woo said in a cold voice, “Since you are in charge of Victoria Corporation’s technical issues…”

“Mr. Jung, please be careful with your wording.”

“I know.”

The exaggerated words of a large company’s CEO often caused big waves in the stock market.

John Peer thought, now is not the time to create such waves.

* * *

Kyle Montana, a senior executive at Morgan Stanley, let out a long sigh of regret.

“Hoo… It was an opportunity to completely knock them down.”

“We couldn’t help it because good news came out right before the market closed.”

“What good news?”

“It was the news that City Services had been restarted.”

Kyle Montana frowned and said, “Did they fix it already?”

Morgan Future, which they developed, routinely had service interruptions for a day or two due to frequent breakdowns.

“There are rumors that Charlie Jung flew to New York.”

“The CEO himself?”

“It seems Victoria Corporation thought it was an important issue too.”

Kyle Montana nodded at those words.

“The stock price crashed, so they had no choice. What is our profit today?”

“Are you talking about the total profit?”

“Yes.”

“We are still calculating.”

Kyle Montana stroked his beard and asked, “Then what about Victoria Corporation’s side?”

“It’s a loss of $200,000.”

Kyle Montana narrowed his eyes at the general manager’s report.

“A loss, not a profit?”

“Well, at the end of the market…”

“Tsk, we didn’t have any fun.”

Morgan Stanley wasn’t the only one who didn’t have any fun.

A man with green eyes frowned deeply.

“Damn it! How could this happen?”

He thought he had caught the fish, but at the last moment, it slipped out of his hands.

Moreover, by letting that fish escape, he had to take responsibility for huge losses.

The losses he saw today alone exceeded $10 million.

“There is also a market tomorrow.”

The man clicked his tongue at the fund manager’s report.

“Tsk, I’ll have to press them down properly tomorrow.”

A man who wanted the destruction of Victoria Corporation and the Giannini family, he was Caron Victor, the New York branch manager of Bank of America.

“Are we going to short sell tomorrow too?”

“Of course.”

Caron Victor got up from his seat and headed to his office. Then, without asking his secretary to connect him, he dialed the phone directly.

Click. Click.

After dialing a few times, the phone was connected.

“This is Paul.”

“It’s me, Miss Paul.”

The person Caron Victor called was Canny Paul, the CFO [Chief Financial Officer] of Bank of America and a behind-the-scenes power figure.

“Caron, today’s market wasn’t good.”

Canny Paul had been checking Victoria Corporation’s stock price in real time from headquarters.

“One piece of bad news came out at the end, and I ended up losing money.”

“Are you talking about the news that City Bank’s City Services has been restarted?”

“Yes.”

Canny Paul, like Caron Victor, wanted the Giannini family to step down.

“There won’t be any bad news like that tomorrow.”

She thought there might even be good news.

‘If the AS business division’s strike starts or the server stops again, Victoria Corporation’s stock price will plummet.’

Canny Paul was aggressive in acquiring Victoria Corporation, but she was a woman who would not hesitate to destroy Victoria Corporation, which she had chosen, in order to get the Giannini family to step down.

“Caron, there is still plenty of time, so don’t overdo it.”

Caron Victor bowed his head and replied, “Miss Paul, don’t worry.”

He was serious about destroying Victoria Corporation, as befits the man who designed this plan.

‘The bad news won’t end with just one.’

Caron Victor wanted to prepare for tomorrow with a sinister smile.

* * *

Jung Hyun-woo and Victoria Corporation’s technical team were focused on recovery work until late at night.

“Adam, how is it going?”

“It looks like it will take about an hour more.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and took his hand off the keyboard.

‘I installed a temporary firewall, but I don’t know how long it will last.’

He thought that this hacking was not as sophisticated as the hackers of the 21st century.

‘But it was threatening.’

It was necessary to quickly distribute the security-enhanced version of City Services.

“Andrei, have you finished tracking?”

Andrei answered Jung Hyun-woo’s question.

“It’s New York.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised his eyebrows at his answer.

“New York?”

“If you contact the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], you can catch them.”

“Is that really possible?”

“They’re not hacking while moving, are they?”

The 1980s was the time when Motorola’s mobile phones first appeared, but not many people had them.

‘Besides, you can’t say that they started hacking through mobile phones.’

If they tried to hack from home or the office, they could be caught easily, as Andrei said.

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and said, “Okay. Ask the CIA for cooperation.”

Andrei accepted his words in a firm voice.

“Understood.”

Jung Hyun-woo looked at him walking away and thought, ‘Hmm, it looks like I’m going to get help from the CIA in an unexpected way.’

He thought that getting help from the CIA or the US government would be a violation of antitrust laws. But Victoria Corporation ended up borrowing the CIA’s hand sooner than expected.

‘Surely it’s not just a prank.’

Jung Hyun-woo was going to hold the hacker accountable.

Beep. Beep.

The phone rang, and after a while, a female employee approached him and said, “CEO, it’s for you.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and headed back to the desk with the phone.

“This is Charlie.”

“Charlie, it’s me, Lyra.”

The main character of this call was Lyra Marine from Bank of America.

‘The main character of the short selling has appeared.’

He said in a dry voice, suppressing his emotions, “American Services will be fine.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew about Bank of America’s short selling, but he pretended not to know.

“Charlie, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Jung Hyun-woo narrowed his brows and asked, “Could you tell me a little more about it?”

“Today, our company’s holdings were used for short selling.”

“That happened.”

Lyra Marine’s voice was thin.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t something I could stop.”

“If it was something Lyra couldn’t stop, does that mean the order came from above?”

“It’s similar to that.”

Thorns grew in Jung Hyun-woo’s voice.

“It seems Chairman Giannini doesn’t like me very much.”

Lyra shook her head from side to side when she heard his words.

“No. It has nothing to do with my grandfather.”

Was it a work for her relatives to push her out?

‘If Victoria Corporation collapses, she will also collapse.’

Jung Hyun-woo thought that maybe the main character of this hacking was those who envied her.

‘I don’t enjoy conspiracy theories, but Bank of America’s movements were too aggressive.’

It was when he narrowed his brows that Lyra Marine said, “Charlie, I think Canny is behind this.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew Canny Paul.

‘Canny Paul?’

He raised the end of his words.

“Are you saying that Bank of America’s CFO hit us?”

“I still don’t know why.”

Lyra Marine had heard about today’s short selling from an informant she had planted in the New York branch, but she didn’t know Caron Victor’s exact goal.

“Hmm, anyway, you’re saying that a high-ranking executive at Bank of America doesn’t like our company.”

“Maybe they’re trying to make money through Victoria Corporation’s crisis.”

Lending the shares needed for short selling and receiving interest and fees.

It couldn’t be said that they could make a great profit with that alone.

‘That’s not it.’

Jung Hyun-woo said, “Lyra, don’t worry about this side. And about the cash I have.”

He also had an account with a significant amount of money at Bank of America.

“Charlie, you’re not going to withdraw that money, are you?”

Lyra Marine thought he was going to move the cash from Bank of America to JP Morgan as a sign of retaliation.

“I’m not withdrawing it.”

“Then what?”

“Use my money to defend the stock price.”

Lyra Marine doubted her ears for a moment.

“You’re telling me to use that money to defend the stock price?”

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?”

“Well, it’s not like that, but…”

Jung Hyun-woo cut off her words and said, “Victoria Corporation’s problems will all be resolved soon. When that happens, the stock price will rise again.”

He was talking about aiming for profit at the same time as defending the stock price.

Lyra Marine nodded at his words.

“Charlie, I know what you mean. Then I’ll only use half of it.”

Jung Hyun-woo said in a firm voice, “Use it all. If it’s not enough, redeem the funds and use them too.”

“Charlie?”

“I won’t give in to the short selling forces.”

Jung Hyun-woo was going to accept all 1.8 billion dollars of shares held by Bank of America.

‘The short selling in the United States eventually requires buying back the shares to repay them.’

The New York Stock Exchange was not a market where naked short selling was possible like in Korea.

Here, those who engage in short selling also had to risk all of their assets.

“Charlie…”

“If someone hits me, isn’t it right to hit them back properly?”

Lyra Marine had no choice but to say yes. After hanging up the phone, she lowered her head and muttered to herself, “Is Charlie angry with us?”

There was intense emotion in Jung Hyun-woo’s dry voice. She could instinctively sense that.

The next day.

Jung Hyun-woo stepped up to the briefing before the first trade of the New York Stock Exchange began.

“I would like to talk about the suspension of City Services that happened yesterday.”

The reporters thought it was just a technical issue.

‘Victoria Corporation also has times when it falls from the tree.’

‘It’s probably the same problem as Morgan Stanley’s Morgan Future.’

However, the words that came out of Jung Hyun-woo’s mouth exceeded their expectations.

“The reason City Services stopped was because of hacking.”

Hacking.

With this one word, the reporters’ hands moved quickly.

‘It’s a scoop!’

‘Has something that I only saw in movies become a reality?’

Jung Hyun-woo’s briefing continued.

“Yesterday, we arrested the hacker with the help of the CIA and the New York Police.”

Hacker arrest.

The reporters were convinced that this was a scoop.